Measuring the food environment: A systematic technique for characterizing food stores using display counts

Marketing research has documented the influence of in-store characteristics-such as the number and placement of display stands-on consumer purchases of a product. however,little information exists on this topic for key foods of interest to those studying the influence of environmental changes on dietary behavior. this study demonstrates a method for characterizing the food environment by measuring the number of separate displays of fruits,vegetables,and energy-dense snack foods (including chips,candies,and sodas) and their proximity to cash registers in different store types. observations in new orleans stores (n = 172) in 2007 and 2008 revealed significantly more displays of energy-dense snacks than of fruits and vegetables within all store types,especially supermarkets. moreover,supermarkets had an average of 20 displays of energy-dense snacks within 1 meter of their cash registers,yet none of them had even a single display of fruits or vegetables near their cash registers. measures of the number of separate display stands of key foods and their proximity to a cash register can be used by researchers to better characterize food stores and by policymakers to address improvements to the food environment. © 2012 cassandra miller et al.